The current invention is generally related to an event-driven communication system, and more particularly related to a communication system that remotely monitors certain conditions and reports such conditions.
The global positioning system (GPS) has been used to monitor the location of certain subjects including elderly wonderers. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 9-251069 discloses a system having a host unit for monitoring the location of a wonderer who wears a mobile communication unit. After the mobile communication unit receives the location data from the GPS, the host unit communicates with the mobile communication unit. The same prior art reference further discloses that the mobile communication unit obtains additional information such as vital sign including blood pressure and heart beat of the wearer and sends the information to the host unit. Another prior art reference, xe2x80x9cA Recognition of Human Walking Motion by Using An Accelerometer,xe2x80x9d T.IEE Japan, Vol. 118-A No. 3, (1998) has disclosed the combined feature of detecting a type of human motion such as xe2x80x9cstanding,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cwalkingxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9crunningxe2x80x9d and reporting the detected motion to a host unit.
To conserve the resources in the monitoring system, Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 9-251069 also discloses that a host unit controls the frequency of transmission rate and the types of information from the mobile communication unit to the host unit by sending a control signal to the mobile unit. However, for example, this type of control is limited since the type of information necessary for monitoring a patient changes over a period of time and also depends upon the medical conditions of the patient. Although the mobile communication unit worn by a relatively healthy patient may not have to send any information other than positional information, once he had a heart attack, the information has to include medical conditions and has to be frequently sent to the host unit. In other words, the host cannot anticipate a necessary change in the control signal to the mobile communication unit without expending its resources on receiving continuously transmitted information and analyzing such information. In addition, resources in the host as well as the mobile communication unit are also inefficiently utilized when the positional data from the GPS is obtained. The host-terminal communication line is inefficiently kept active for a period during which the mobile communication unit waits for the GPS data.
To conserve resources in the monitoring system, each mobile communication unit and the host unit are desired to improve its communication efficiency.
In order to solve the above and other problems, according to a first aspect of the current invention, a method of notifying a host unit from a mobile communication unit, the mobile communication unit monitoring a subject with the mobile communication unit, including the acts of: placing the mobile communication unit in a predetermined inactive monitoring state; detecting at least one of a set of predetermined conditions with respect to the subject and generating a condition detection signal; placing the mobile communication unit in a predetermined active state in response to the condition detection signal; and initiating a first communication line with the host unit for transmitting the condition detection signal.
According to a second aspect of the current invention, a system for notifying certain conditions associated with a subject, comprising: a mobile communication unit for detecting at least one of a set of predetermined conditions in relation to a subject, the mobile communication being initially in a predetermined inactive monitoring state, upon detecting one of the predetermined conditions, the mobile communication unit generating a condition detection signal and changing its mode to a predetermined active state; and a host unit selectively in communication with the mobile communication unit for transmitting information between the mobile communication unit and the host unit, the mobile communication unit initiating a first communication line with the host unit for transmitting the condition detection signal.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.